15th/16th centuryThe cover with reddish-brown lacquer inlaid with a scene of a lady in a robe richly embroidered with cloud scrolls resting her cheek upon her right hand and cradling a lute in her lap, the lady seated beside a low table with a vase within a pine garden, all within a lobed cartouche against a geometric ground, the four sides each with a cartouche containing a floral scroll, the box with a narrow band of petals within diagonal lines on the stepped base. 26cm (10¼in) long (2).

Footnotes

十五/十六世紀 黑漆嵌螺鈿琵琶仕女圖長方蓋盒

The style of mother-of-pearl inlay on the present box and cover points to a 15th/16th century date. Compare the cash pattern and pine needle inlay in a tray, 14th/15th century, illustrated by J.M.White, Masterpieces of Chinese Lacquer from the Mike Healy Collection, Honolulu, 2005, pl.8; and see also the cartouche shape on a tiered box and cover, 15th/16th century, illustrated in 2000 Years of Chinese Lacquer, Hong Kong, 1993, pl.92; and see the leafy scroll on the reverse of a tray, Wanli mark and period, illustrated by R.Krahl and B.Morgan, From Innovation to Conformity: Chinese Lacquer from the 13th to the 16th centuries, Bluett & Sons, London, 1989, pl.32.

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